Body Posture while braiding

[Opagon]

Hi all,

I was waiting for my chiropractor appointment and reading an article about body positioning while at work. It got me thinking about how my current braiding station was set up and what I could change to make it easier on my back and hands. I try very hard to sit without slouching but I am sure there is more that I could be doing to reduce the stress.

What other things are you doing to keep yourselves in good braiding form?

Heather

[leatheroo]

for long pieces of braiding, i always braid standing up...the piece i am working on is attached to a door handle..no slouching!

[rgerbitz]

After an all day braiding session my whole back and shoulders can get pretty sore. Some of the things that I have done to help with that are to raise my work bench up so that when working on braiding anything in a vise I can either stand or sit on a bar stool with out having to slump over. When working on knots I find it helpful to rest an elbow on the bench wether I am sitting or not. Otherwise I find myself about bent in half wondering why all the blood is rushing to my head.

Rob

[rawhide1]

Heather

I like to stand while braiding. And this is going to sound plum weird. But after standing awhile my knees and feet start a hurting so I'll stand on one foot and rest the other by putting the bottom of the foot on the calf of the leg I'm standing on. I'm sure it looks weird but it sure feels good. When I'm tying knots I like to sit for awhile and then stand up and lean against a counter or something. And like Rob I really feel it in my shoulders and my neck. I also have to make a effort not to stand all hunched over.

Mike

[Spence]

If my back is bothering me, I'll sit in a straight-back wooden chair. I've stretched out on the floor, with the work tied to a doorknob. Most times now, it's all done in the Lazy Boy while watching TV.

[Opagon]

I also find that its my shoulders that tighten up on me the most after a day of braiding. With the kids in school I am finding more time to braid but my body seems to be protesting. I am building up my hours slowly to get use to the longer hours. I want to be able to keep braiding for a long time without having to worry about my hands/shoulders going out on me. I am getting ready to put together a new work station so I am very curious about this..... I want to design it so that I dont have to be looking down all the time but I also dont want my arms dying from holding them up.

Idea's are greatly appreciated! Angle of arms while braiding? Best style of recliner? (I really need to try that more)....

Heather

[cybertracy]

I made a "braiding pony" out of PVC pipe. It can easily be extended by adding more pipe pieces, and as the braid gets longer I can wrap around a lower "T" to take up slack. With the pony between my legs, I can sit fully back in a chair with the braid always at the right height to avoid straining. I change the height occasionally just to keep from sitting in one position too long. It even works in the car, and can be dissassembled to travel.

[Spence]

I made a "braiding pony" out of PVC pipe. It can easily be extended by adding more pipe pieces, and as the braid gets longer I can wrap around a lower "T" to take up slack. With the pony between my legs, I can sit fully back in a chair with the braid always at the right height to avoid straining. I change the height occasionally just to keep from sitting in one position too long. It even works in the car, and can be dissassembled to travel.

That PVC Braiding Pony sounds interesting. Any chance of getting a picture, diagram and/or measurements? Tks

[cybertracy]

Hi Spence,

I'd love to send you a picture but all my leatehrworking goodies are packed and stored at the moment. I tried to do a rough sketch (don't laugh) to give you an idea of materials & how it (sort-of) works. The horizontal and vertical pipe lengths are adjusted to the comfort of the braider. I keep several different lengths on hand and swap them out as my braid grows in length. For really long projects, you can unsnap the work from the top L and wrap it behind & bring it down and hook it to the middle T (and back up if needed). I find I use shorter lengths when sitting in a car or recliner, longer when on a straight-backed chair. You can place the bottom legs under your own to use it like a stitching pony, or put T's on the leg ends to make it more like a stand. I put a cupboard hook in the top L and hang my fid there.

When you have to pause in your braiding, you simply split your strings and wrap them around the pipe opposite directions and loosely overhand tie them together, keeps the braid secure and laces from tangling.

The project is completely inexpensive and with all the different PVC doodads completely customizable to whatever you may dream up.

Sorry about the long explanation for a rather simple idea! If you have any questions, just pm me.

Happy braiding.

[Leerwerker]

I am not much of a woodworker - so I did some very rough engineering to come up with my braiding post. But it works very well:

• I can slide it under any chair
  
  • I have a few hooks at various heights so that I can sit upright depending on the chair I am at
    
  • I can collapse it for transport
    

  

  

  

  

[Maeve]

Hmmmm...... just call me frugal and lazy! I use a clip board and lounge on the couch while I braid. No sore shoulders for me! I'll try to post this picture of my granddaughter. I was teaching her how to braid (she did really well!) and it shows the clip board in use! I have been able to braid bosals, reins, everything on the clip board and it holds the piece straight so I don't get the twists in the braiding. Here goes ... hope this works!

[Maeve]

LOL! Since that worked, I'll describe it a little further. You don't have to prop the clip board against anything but your lap/stomach. You can see by the picture that my granddaughter is slouched in a chair on the back porch. Totally relaxed! The harder you pull, the more it wedges in against the resistance. When it gets so long that it is uncomfortable to braid, you just press the clip and move it up! That simple. I plaited a 60" piece tonight while watching NASCAR and then moved onto some other braiding. But I don't have to be detached from my family to braid, it is portable and CHEAP!

Love and Light,

Maeve

[HorsehairBraider]

I sit in a very comfortable chair (that I shopped for, particularly as to leg length and height) with armrests. My braiding is clamped to what is actually a quilt rack. I can easily move this back from me the longer the braid gets. It moves close enough to the chair that I can start the braid, then as it grows longer I push it from me. Occasionally I am doing a very long braid and in that case it will go up over the top of the rack, and wind through the other parts of the rack.

This is very important to me as I have carpal tunnel: I make CERTAIN that my hands never bend inwards. I keep my wrists STRAIGHT as I braid, or bent outwards - NEVER inwards.

I also make sure I can braid with my elbows supported and without slumping over. There are times I will sit forward and support my elbows on my knees, and lean forward a bit, just for a change in position.

I braid pretty much all day long, starting about 8 AM and sometimes not stopping until 1 or 2 AM. Usually though I stop about 7 PM for a couple of hours, then braid from about 9 PM to 11PM. That said, I take a break for 10 - 15 minutes every two hours or so which is why I am sometimes on here every two hours... I'm just taking a break!

During Christmas rush I get pretty sore. My arms sometimes feel like they will fall off... I just try and take those breaks, getting up and stretching, and moving to slightly different positions.

[8thsinner]

I have actually spent a lot of time working on finger and arm exercises for other hobbies.

So heres a huge list of them for you to use.

Because we as braiders are usually pulling strongly against thedirection of the fingers, we need to increase our resistance to lateralmovements.

More recently I keep my fingers strong and arms used to air work by twirling a steel bar, recently leather wrapped. It's about one foot long and half inch wide or so and weighs probably 400 grams. I twirl it around all the fingers underneath my hand then lifting the hand the other way reverse the direction, then I spin it around the thumb and spin the hand back over to restart the underneath cycle. It's much harder with the left hand when starting. I used to use two two foot wooden bars wrapped in leather, and work both sides at the same time but they are currently in storage...

Another exercise is rocking the bar side to side between two fingers, holding the hand thumb up and pinky down... Very painful if over done. Work between all the fingers.

More for the fingers, find yourself two marble balls about three inches wide, and rotate these the smaller exercise balls, work in both directions for five minutes each.

Keeping the palm as straight as possible, reach the tip of each finger one at a time back as far as possible without any other finger moving, Hold for 3 sets of teen seconds each then move on. Both hands now...

For the wrists, tie a filled two-five litre bottle to a staff securely with three feet of string, grab either end of the rod and twist, twist, twist, up one side then slowly down and finally repeat until pulpy arms syndrome.

For arms in general throwing and spinning once a hammer in the following order helps the arms and shoulders remain supple and loose.

Left to right

right to right

right to left

left to left

repeat

DO you make tamales? If not learn to work your forearms and wrists in doing so.

Tamale as quickly as possibly 50 metres of 2mm lace, much wider and it gets unmanagable.

I bet you can't get to fifty without stopping or slowing down.

Hold your arms straight out in front of you, and do mexican waves with the fingers without moving anything but your fingers. It won't look like a mexican wave, but doing this for five minutes sure makes you feel it. And this won't make sense to read but do the waves slowly but strongly.

Before any work gets done, warm with some sort of exercise each muscle to be used.

Also card tricks, balisongs, pen spinning, zippo tricks, contact juggling etc are all good exercises for finger dexterity.

One last fore arm exercise, screw 2 six inch nails into a hard wood block with a manual screw driver. I would say use the left to unscrew it but I never did.

As for the back...Tai chi

Door side and a vice...or broken swing (don't ask)

Hope these work for you, they have worked for me for over ten years.

[Opagon]

Thanks for the ideas 8th! I am going to try some of those exercises. I do yoga and have been told repeatedly that I need to start Tai Chi also, no time like the present.

The one really simple thing that I have incorporated into my routine is the water bath. Alternating between hot and cold water 2 minutes each for 3 sets with palms down, fingers spread. It really helps improve the circulation.

Keep Braiding,

Heather

[8thsinner]

The water thing I have never heard seperated from the full shower version which helps boost the immne system and skin in general.

Thanks for sharing.